


Blades of Glory

by Jitter



Category: The Dresden Files - Jim Butcher
Genre: Funny, Gen, Ice Skating, Not Fluff, Not shipping - Freeform, Other, Winter Knight, just Mab Things, prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-04
Updated: 2016-04-04
Packaged: 2018-05-31 06:58:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6460333
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jitter/pseuds/Jitter





	Blades of Glory

**Author's Note:**

  * For [xserpx](https://archiveofourown.org/users/xserpx/gifts).



My palm closed tightly around the familiar solidity of my staff  and I cleared my throat.

“Uh…” I said, “What?”

The Queen of Air and Darkness–my boss– was standing there, arms crossed over her chest, looking completely unimpressed. 

“Cross the lake,” she repeated slowly as if talking to an imbecile or a small child, “Was I unclear?”

I managed a glance away from Queen Mab’s cobra-like emerald gaze to look at the frozen expanse in front of us. It was a relatively small lake and the artifact Mab wanted was right in the middle of it. It would have been easy to sail a boat there or even swim to retrieve it if the surface hadn’t been frozen solid.

I gave an experimental step on the surface and it seemed to hold my weight pretty well, something that made me wary. That seemed _way_ too easy. A second step followed, then a third, before I felt the ground disappearing from under my feet.

I didn’t fall on my ass or anything; I was just testing to see if gravity was still functional, that’s all.

“I can’t,” I said gruffly as I planted my staff on the ice to help myself up, “It’s too slippery.”

Eyerolls usually don’t have a sound but I swear Mab’s eyerolling was _loud._

“Are you not the Knight of Winter?” she questioned, her voice dangerously level. Then, she glided softly over to where I had fallen, head tilting slightly and I couldn’t help but notice that she was floating an inch over the ice.

“Why don’t you go get it?” I asked, my tone verging close to annoyance, which I thankfully realized in time, “My queen.”

She just stared at me, expression indecipherable then she spoke, every syllable as punctuating as if it had been a word of its own, “Because.”

I sighed. This could mean a bunch of things. Mab either literally couldn’t get there herself or was putting me to the test. Or maybe she was doing this for her own sadistic enjoyment.

Possibly all three.

“Well, you should have told me to pack my ice-skating gear ‘cause unless you want me to break my back again I can’t see how–”

Her expression made me stop mid-sentence.

Hey, what do you know, sometimes my survival instinct kicks in.

“You are the Winter Knight,” she repeated, then added as an afterthought, “and a wizard.”

She, of course, was right.

I rubbed at my aching backside, that had already been screaming at me since I had woken up. The fall on the ice hadn’t made any of my bones happy and I let out a grunt. 

I gathered my will then focused all the pain from my aching joints, my annoyance, and my frustration to shape a thought into substance and grumbled, “Bladus Glorious!”

A pair of strong, skating blades began forming from the soles of my hiking boots, gripping hard on the shoes and lifting me more than an inch higher than I already had been. I remained perfectly still as the Winter Queen raised a perfectly shaped eyebrow at me. Whether it was for my choice of ice gear or for the words I used for my spell, I didn’t know.

“I’d recommend the movie,” I said with a shrug, “but I don’t think Will Ferrel is your thing.”

She stared some more then glided past me, arms still folded on her chest, “Time,” was all she said.

In retrospect, I could have just made myself some ice cleats or make the soles cling to the ice, but that would have been reasonable and well-thought out. It was a good thing I had my staff. Just saying.

I had been on rollerblades a few times when I was a teenager and I assumed the mechanics of staying balanced would be the same. I took a deep breath and leaned forward to follow after Mab…

…and fell flat on my face.

Falling face-first on solid ice is as much fun as it sounds and while I couldn’t listen much around me because _someone_ was chanting ‘ow ow ow’, I was certain that I had just made the Winter Queen release a frustrated sigh.

“Rise, sir Knight,” she ordered. She hadn’t questioned my choice even now, but Mab had always been a sink-or-swim teacher, and damn I wasn't going to sink. It was a matter of pride now.

I obeyed, noticing to my satisfaction that the spell had held and my magic ice-skates hadn’t shattered and leaned against my staff to help balance myself.

“You are standing wrong,” she said and extended her hand, “Hand me your staff.”

By this point, I was pretty sure that Mab had woken up bored and had decided to mess with her Knight for shits and giggles but there was nothing I could do about it. I sighed and surrendered my last lifeline to dignity.

“Stay absolutely still,” she instructed, and to my surprise, doing that helped me keep my balance, at least momentarily. “Get used to the feel of the blades and the way it affects your balance first.”

“Gee, you’re going to teach me ice-skating? We’re bonding, you and I,” I said then promptly shut up again at the look Mab gave me. One of these days I’ll learn to do it without the threat of my innards moonlighting in Walmart’s frozen foods section.

She let her eyes close as if the whole affair was giving her a headache then looked back at me. “Practice using each edge of your blade on its own. You are standing on two edges right now. When you are moving you need to be on one edge only. Inside or outside.”

I listened, (I know, it surprised me too) and let my mind focus on how my body was balancing itself. Then I gave a tentative lean towards one side.

And remained upright.

A regular, mortal teacher would have let me hold onto a rail or my staff but Mab was neither of those things. At this point, I was just grateful that she hadn’t melted the ice to show me my idea had been ludicrous.

I got the hang of it faster than I expected and soon I was speeding across the frozen lake towards the artifact with the Winter Queen gliding after me. When I reached the middle I realized why she hadn’t gone to pick it up on her own.

There was a tiny patch of land, literally enough to house a three by three structure that was made up by just three walls and a door.

And it was entirely made of iron.

I glanced at Mab and saw her standing a good ten feet behind me, holding what looked like a glass key in her hands.

“That’s it?” I asked, “That’s the protection for your precious artifact? Iron and a key for a lock any rag-tag can pick?”

“It only opens to one of Winter,” she said in a clipped tone, “Its Knight to be precise.”

I knew that tone. She didn’t have all day  and I was being ridiculous. I took the key and opened the tiny door, to reveal an unimpressive pearly sphere the size of my fist. It hummed with power and was cold to the touch when I got hold of it and offered it to Mab.

She took it without a thanks—not that I expected any– and put it in her pocket, pulling on a pair of silk gloves right after.

“That was a good first date,” I said, “Snow cones next time?”

I had enough time  to see the back of my Queen as she turned and vanished before the ice cracked under my feet and I took the plunge into the freezing water.

I should have seen that coming.


End file.
